The future of rallies in the North East
The future of rallies in the North East
In some ways I can understand Greame's frustration as obviously it isn't cheap keeping preserved buses on the road and getting money to keep these going has to come from somewhere, apparently there was a lacking of donations when he took the Leopard to the 500 Group Running Day earlier in the year. For these reasons it may be a bit infuriating that some people are more interested in the modern stuff that is in daily passenger service and can be seen in service on a daily basis, if no-one shows any interest towards the stuff in preservation, we could lose these buses which would be a shame. At the same time, I don't think making statements like this is going to help matters as some people could see this and decide not to attend these events, meaning less people will see and ride vehicles of all ages. I think it is good that Arriva, Go North East and the independent operators attend these events as it helps to add a little more to the variety at these events (in my opinion) and from my observations at the Whitley Bay rally today, the Go North East stuff was where most of the interest was. I think there is a serious lacking of variety at these events in the North East now, it's bad when the only point I was really surprised at any point today was when I saw Go North East's Tynedale Links MPD 556 come back on a shuttle from Stephenson Railway Museum. I think the problem is not the modern buses being there, it's the fact that we are being subjected to the same preserved stuff at each rally in the region, the novelty of riding the same buses sharp loses it's fun and sure enough this was the case today whilst I was there today, 500 Group's H106 was one of the shuttles whilst I was there, I had it at most of the rallies last year and I've had it at all the rallies this year, I want to ride something else and that something else was the United Leyland Olympian which like it seemed to be the case at the MetroCentre Rally earlier in the year was a static display but I'm sure I've seen it do shuttles at other rallies this year, so why not ours in the North East, I think to keep the interest in the preserved stuff we need to get more buses visiting from other parts of the country, one of the most popular attendees at the 500 Group's Running Day was the former Black Prince Mercedes Benz O405/Opatre Prisma - N577 EUG which was a vehicle type previously a regular sight in Middlesbrough and people were pleased to get to sample one of these again, whoever was behind getting that to appear at the Teesside Running Day, thanks, it has to be my highlight of the year at the North East rallies in 2016.
